Explore our case studies below
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Seed to Shelf: Building a Regenerative Food Brand
Yaupon Wellness Company, a social enterprise offering edible and personal care products derived from the Yaupon plant, had a well-established regional brand and was receiving great responses on several products. Yaupon, however, needed guidance on going nationwide. It turned to WhiteLabel. Over a year-long collaboration, WhiteLabel served as a comprehensive growth engine for Yaupon. Our work commenced with a thorough brand assessment, leading to a strategic refresh, solidifying Yaupon's identity in the wellness space. We investigated key products, distribution channel, and funding strategies, helping define Yaupon's target market, identifying the persona of its ideal customer, crafting a compelling value proposition, and a pricing and channel strategy. Yaupon is now growing from a local provider, into a firm with a regional presence, and the basis for a national brand. “WhiteLabel has been instrumental in defining our business strategy,” said CEO Lou Thomann. “The team has a unique ability to see the practical next steps to achieve growth, execute the plan, and solve the finance dilemma,”
Giving a Voice to Gen Z: Building the Next Generation of Mental Health Support
Gen Z struggles with finding meaningful connections and comprehensive mental health support. Promly, a social enterprise, envisioned a world where young people have access to holistic support and resources. To achieve this, a WhiteLabel partner, first as a consultant, then as a fractional COO, embedded in Promly. As a hybrid organization, with both a non-profit (501(c)3) and Public Benefit Corporation (PBC), it can fundraise across the spectrum of capital, blending traditional grants with commercial investment matching its for-profit and non-profit work. WhiteLabel worked on finding the right fit for funding, creating compelling narratives tailored to a wide variety of investors and donors, often the same people. Understanding that lasting change requires systematic support, using their depth of experience in advocacy, WhiteLabel got Promly in front of advocacy and public affairs opportunities. WhiteLabel continues to partner with Promly. “They got our value proposition and helped us raise our brand awareness through a differentiated path — advocacy and public affairs. Operationally, they were able to upscale Promly’s business and organizational models, positioning us for sustainable, efficient growth. I could not recommend them higher,” said CEO Jen Libby.
ESG Finance Takes Root: Founding COO Drives 8x Growth for UN-backed Initiative
The United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) was just finding its feet. The nascent initiative lacked an operational foundation, a sustainable business model and a team to carry out its vital mission. A WhiteLabel partner was brought in as COO. Developing a scalable operational framework, a long-term strategic roadmap and a compelling go-to-market and global outreach campaign, which defined the value proposition around ESG and how the initiative was well-positioned to promote it, they were able to attract and engage potential members. The partner also identified and executed a transition to the initiative’s business model: moving it from voluntary donations to membership fees. Under his leadership, the firm tripled its membership, increased its revenues sevenfold and expanded staff by 12-fold. The UN PRI is one of the most powerful forces promoting responsible finance and ESG.
Giving Voice Through Innovation: Creating a New initiative for a Media Non-Profit
A wise innovator once told us, “Finding product market fit solves 100 percent of 50 percent of the problem–you have to build something that fits the organization’s strengths.” We found this sagacious advice while working with the Munathara Initiative, an award-winning non-profit championing free speech in the Arab world. Recognizing that donor priorities change, and sometimes radically so, The Munathara Initiative wanted to diversify its funding streams to include impact and commercial sponsors. The firm’s executive director, however, needed help learning about, and developing a product to transition into the world of for-profit social enterprise. Through interviews, on-the-ground research, business modeling and financial forecasting, WhiteLabel was able to identify a niche that fit the market’s needs and the organization’s unique capabilities and resources: The Munathara Creative Labs, a studio dedicated to fostering creative businesses, fueling democracy, and empowering civil society across the MENA region.
Using Art to Initiate Activism: Combatting the Climate Crisis
We all – well, most of us – know that the climate crisis is real. A WhiteLabel co-conspirator is turning science into art, creating data visualizations, that make it tangible, and undeniable. That art has come to the aid of science: for the past five years, the WhiteLabel co-conspirator has been working with the International Arctic Buoy Programme, deploying instruments that provide vital weather and climate impact data for the Arctic Ocean and tagging 50 icebergs along the coast of Greenland to improve predictive modeling. Their custom-designed sensors have contributed over 22,000 lines of data to the primary weather and climate repository for the Arctic Ocean. They also participated with Public Sediment, a team of landscape architects, designers, civil and coastal engineers, on a project funded by the Rockefeller Foundation to transform river sediment, usually a source of environmental degradation, into a solution for sea-level rise adaptation in the San Francisco Bay area. The team collaborated with local government agencies and public stakeholders to connect Alameda Creek with the San Francisco Baylands, providing a sustainable supply of sediment to Baylands for sea-level rise adaptation, reconnecting migratory fish with their historic spawning grounds, and introducing a network of community spaces to reclaim the creek as a place for people.
Empowering Global Enterprise: Structuring a Financial Facility for Women Entrepreneurs
The Goldman Sachs Foundation's 10,000 Women Initiative needed a financial structure that would allow it to eventually recoup its investment in women entrepreneurs. Traditional financial returns were not a priority. A WhiteLabel partner proposed a then-novel "catalytic capital facility" using a layered investment structure. This structure placed the Goldman Sachs Foundation in the "first-loss" position, meaning they'd absorb initial losses, effectively subsidizing other investors with lower risk tolerances. The model allowed the Foundation to provide crucial funding for women entrepreneurs with the potential to recoup its investment while creating a compelling return stream to “crowd-in” more commercial investors. The success of this facility has become a benchmark within the world of innovative finance.